FACING THE BULLY.
The events of that night created a sensation, forming a topic of general
conversation.
Strangely enough, very few seemed to know who had struck Mason, and
those who did, kept silent, not wishing to be drawn into the affair,
being friendly toward Diamond.
Jack was not at all excited or alarmed over it, and he did not show
concern when he was told over and over that the giant freshman would be
sure to make good his threat, if possible.
"Let him try it!" said the lad from Virginia. "Next time I will finish
him. I do not propose to fool with a beast like him."
From the campus a party of students went direct to Frank's room. Frank
had the cane he had taken from Mason.
"It will make a fine ornament for my room," he laughed, as he placed it
conspicuously over the mantel.
"Jove!" cried Danny Griswold. "You should be proud of it. You took it
from Mason so quick that the fellow was dazed."
"That was the flittiest pring I ever saw--I mean the prettiest fling I
ever saw," excitedly declared Rattleton. "How did you do it, Merry?"
"Oh, that was a simple trick," smiled Frank.
"It would have bumped the wind out of any other fellow, but it didn't
seem to damage Mason much," observed Charlie Creighton.
"It was Diamond's little rap that damaged him," grunted Browning, who
had again captured a couch.
"That was a corker!" broke forth Banny Robinson.
"A corker!" echoed Halliday. "I should guess yes! It dropped him in his
tracks, and I saw the cops hammer him over the head with their clubs
till they were tired without bringing him to his knees."
"I intended to lay him out when I struck him," said Jack, his eyes
flashing. "I hit him on exactly the right spot."
"I'm sorry you did it, old man," said Creighton, soberly.
"I'm not!" returned Diamond, instantly.
"He is sure to make it hot for you."
"Let him try it! He was kicking Merry, and Merry was down. If I'd had an
iron bar, I should have cracked him with it, after seeing him sink his
toe into Frank's ribs."
Merriwell took a long step toward Jack and grasped his hand.
"Thank you, Diamond," he said, soberly and sincerely. "It is a true
friend who stands by a man when he is down."
He glanced around at the others a moment after saying this, and the eyes
of some of them failed to meet his. They remembered how, a short time
before, Frank had been somewhat unpopular because of his refusal to play
on the football team, and many of them had turned against him. They knew
well enough that Merriwell had not forgotten it, and he thought of it
when he spoke. Diamond was one of the few who had stood by him when he
was most unpopular.
"The time has come," said Browning, slowly, "when this bully must be
shown that he is not cock of the walk."
"Who'll show him?" cried several voices.
"Merriwell didn't hesitate about tackling him to-night--and got the best
of him in a fair way. He struck a foul blow, and----"
"A terrible blow it was," confessed Frank, soberly. "I felt as if I had
been kicked in the head by a mule."
"Oh, he'll kill a weak fellow with a fair blow of his fist!" exclaim
Halliday.
"If we can't do anything else," said Browning, "we'll have to organize
against him. If we were to do that, we could bring him to time after a
while."
Danny Griswold lighted a cigarette, and perched himself on top of the
table.
"If Merry will be our leader we may do something," he said.
"I am not in favor of the scheme," declared Frank.
All regarded him in surprise.
"You are not?" they cried.
"No."
"Why not?"
"It seems cowardly for several fellows to band together against one."
"But it's all the way he can be subdued. What can we do?"
"I am not certain it is the only way he can be subdued."
"Suggest another."
"I won't make any suggestions to-night, but I will think it over."
"We should organize for the protection of Diamond," suggested Creighton.
"He is bound to find out Jack struck him the blow that knocked him out,
and then----"
"Don't worry about me," broke in the Virginian. "I am not afraid of Hock
Mason. He might kill me, but he'd never be able to make me squeal."
This was not boasting. Those who knew Jack Diamond best realized that he
spoke nothing more than the simple truth. Brute force might conquer him
physically, but his heart could not be conquered in such a manner.
Creighton was in earnest about forming some sort of a combination,
offensive and defensive, against Mason, but Merriwell would not go into
it, and the scheme failed to go into effect.
Some one suggested that Mason might be hurt more severely than they
supposed, and Robinson went out to find out, if possible, about it. He
finally returned, but brought no information.
"It would be a good thing if he couldn't get into bed for a day or two,"
said Halliday; "but you'll see him about as well as ever to-morrow."
Ben was right. Mason came forth to chapel in the morning, and, from his
appearance, no one could have told that he had been knocked out in such
manner the night before.
Straightway the giant freshman set about trying to discover just who it
was that struck him, but those he questioned did not know, or lied by
saying they did not know.
Mason grew more and more furious as time progressed and he failed to
learn what he desired. He swore that he would find out before night, and
the fellow should suffer.
At noon a crowd gathered at the fence and talked the matter over.
Charlie Creighton was there, and again he was in favor of organizing
against the freshmen.
While they were talking, Mason was seen approaching.
"Here he comes!" was the general exclamation.
"And he's out for blood!" declared Creighton. "His manner shows that.
There is going to be trouble."
Before reaching the fence, Mason encountered Danny Griswold. Instantly
he collared the little fellow.
"Griswold," he said, "I know that you know who struck me last night. If
you don't tell, I'm going to give you the worst drubbing you ever
received."
Danny shrank away, saying:
"I didn't see the fellow hit you."
"But you know who did it. You can't deny that. Who was it?"
"I can't tell."
Mason raised his heavy fist.
"Tell, or I'll break your pretty little nose!" he grated.
There was a step near at hand, and a calm voice said:
"Drop it, Mason! You should be ashamed to bully a man smaller than
yourself. Don't dare to strike him!"
Hock looked around in astonishment.
Frank Merriwell was close at hand, coolly standing there, with his hands
thrust into his pockets.
"Hey?" cried Mason, in surprise.
"You heard what I said, freshman," spoke Frank, as coolly as ever.
There was a stir at the fence, for the students there saw all and heard
all.
"Jingoes! Merriwell has a nerve!" gasped one.
"Mason will thump him, sure!" said another.
"If he does----"
"Hark!"
"Yes, I heard what you said," flung back the bully; "but what you say
chops no frost. If I want to thump this chap I'll thump him, and twenty
fellows like you can't stop me."
"You overestimate your ability, freshman," said Frank, and his coolness
was most exasperating. "If you thump that chap, one fellow will thump
you."
"Jee whiz!" palpitated one of the students at the fence, "Now he's in
for it!"
"There'll be gore spilled!" muttered Creighton.
"I'm sorry for Merriwell!" said another.
"Eh?" gurgled Hock Mason, more astonished than ever. "Is that a fact?"
"That is."
"Well, I'm going to thump him!"
Again he lifted his fist, and Danny Griswold cowered before it.
"Stop, Mason!" cried Frank, his voice hard and cold. "Strike him, and
I'll give you a mark to remember me by!"
"Ho, ho!" sneered Mason, and he smashed Griswold in the face.
The moment the bully struck the little fellow, he released his collar
and whirled toward Frank.
Merriwell kept his word.
Crack--Frank's fist struck fairly on Hock Mason's left eye, and the big
bully was knocked down in a second.
The witnesses gasped with astonishment.
With a roar of rage, Mason leaped to his feet and came at Merriwell,
somewhat blinded and dazed, but raging like a mad bull.
With the utmost ease Frank avoided the big fellow, and then he struck
Mason again.
The second blow did not knock the giant down, but it stopped him a
moment, and the blood began to run down his face.
Frank's fist had cut a long gash over the bully's right eye, and the
blood quickly began to blind Hock, for already his left eye was swelling
swiftly, showing it might be entirely closed in a few moments.
Mason wiped away the blood with his coat sleeve, and went at Frank with
another rush.
Merriwell dodged, thrust out his foot, and tripped the freshman, sending
him to the ground with a thud.
Over by the fence a little party witnessed all this with astonishment
unspeakable.
Was this Mason, the freshman bully, who was being handled in such a
manner by Merriwell? Was this the man who had knocked out four New Haven
cops?
Mason had struck at Frank savagely enough to lay him out, but Merriwell
easily dodged the blow.
Now the bully got upon his feet the second time. Blood was streaming
down his face, and he was fast going blind. He looked around for
Merriwell, but saw him dimly and indistinctly.
"Oh, hang you!" he cried. "You took me by surprise, and I can't see you
now. If I could get hold of you----"
"But you can't do it, you know," said Frank, cheerfully, as he skipped
out of the reach of his enemy's long arms.
Mason whirled around dizzily. He began to realize that it would be
foolish to attempt to get the best of Merriwell then.
"Oh, I'll fix you for this--I will!" he grated.
"You think you will, but you won't," was the calm reply. "I shall be on
the watch for you, and this is but a taste of what you'll get the next
time you go up against me. Your days as a bully around here are over. I
told you I would mark you, and I have. Whenever you look in a mirror for
some time to come you will see something to remember me by."
"Whenever I look in a mirror for some time to come I shall remember you,
and I'll repeat my vow to make you regret the day you ever saw me. Next
time we meet to fight, I'll hammer you within an inch of your life!"
Then, holding a blood-stained handkerchief to his bleeding eye, he
turned and hastened away.